ALBUM REVIEW: Senicarne – Fall of Messiah

Holy Roar Records have a reputation for consistently releasing boundary-defying and genre-pushing excellence from all across the spectrum of heavy music, and it comes as no surprise that their latest release; FALL OF MESSIAH‘s Senicarne continues that trend. The French post-hardcore quintet are masters of the sonic wave, ebbing and flowing throughout the record with enough gaps for the listener to understand the themes, but not leaving enough time for it to be anything but punishingly overpowering.

Comparisons will of course be made to label mates WE NEVER LEARNED TO LIVE, however whilst that group make great use of vocal melodies and perform a very raw, personal form of post-hardcore, their French compatriots instead draw further from the realms of extreme metal. Black metal-esque screams herald the opening of second track Contreforts, and the entire record is much more reminiscent of ROLO TOMASSI than post-hardcore heroes THRICE. Indeed there are several similarities to Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It, and it is clear that their label mates fantastic 2017 opus has had an impact on Senicarne, especially with the ethereal feel of both records, and the ability to make the guitars sound heavy despite utilising relatively little distortion in some areas.

Senicarne is chock full of symbolism, with the title itself written backwards as enracinés translating from French as ‘rooted,’ whilst ‘seni carne’ is ‘old flesh’ in Latin. Despite relatively few vocals throughout the record, these symbols still jump out every listen, and FALL OF MESSIAH make excellent use of ambience and alternating between waves of drums and guitars and slower areas which allows the listener to breathe in and think about what they are hearing. The band have said that this album is a story of human ties evolving over time, and that element of evolution is really at the forefront of this record. As the album progresses it does not fill like a collection of songs but a true album that has to be listened to in order to understand the true meaning. It flows seamlessly between songs, and if you weren’t looking you wouldn’t realise that a song has ended – the band are that good at making this album feel like one 37 minute long song.

The sparsity of vocals on Senicarne make them feel all the more emotive when Pierre Bailleul, Sylvain Moulin and Benjamin Defer all do eventually lend their voice during a song. A listener can be enjoying the complexity of the guitars (there are three guitarists in this band, normally that would be overkill but it simply adds to the ambience of this record and allows the band to push further boundaries), when suddenly some desperate screams hit – and the full emotion of what FALL OF MESSIAH are doing hits. These are not angry screams, these are the screams of people overcome with emotion, and feel so strongly about the change in their ties that there is no other form of release than through their voice. There’s no polish on the vocals unlike the instrumentation, but that just adds to the rawness and authenticity of this album.

Senicarne is yet another fantastic addition to the Holy Roar discography, a towering piece of music that really requires a time investment. This isn’t a record for doing the hoovering to, this is a record that needs to be listened to with 100% concentration. FALL OF MESSIAH have crafted something absolutely wonderful, and this is an example of how interesting and boundary-pushing the oft overlooked genre of post-hardcore can be. Undoubtedly already in contention for being an album of the year contender for ROLO TOMASSI fans, do not miss this.

Rating: 9/10

Senicarne is out now via Holy Roar Records.

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